Chapter 11 #2
Roxy stood, legs slightly apart and head tilted back, as she muttered the words needed to open the gateway, then she sliced her palm and stepped forward.
She lifted her hand but turned back to me before she held it over one of the stones. “Be ready. Anything could be on the other side.”
Sliding the knife from my boot, I strode up behind her and braced.
She curled her fingers into a tight fist and held it over one of the porous stones. Her blood dripped from her palm, landing on the rough surface, and was instantly absorbed. Much like the gateway into Limbo, the stones around us began to roll and reform.
Roxy pulled knives from the sheaths on each hip, twirling them slowly.
“How is it you have a never-ending supply of knives?” I muttered as the last few stones rolled into place.
“I’m Roxana the Blade,” she said, and winked. “It’s magic.”
The gateway finished forming, and Limbo’s forest, still visible through the stone archway in front of us, vanished, replaced by darkness and a cool blast of air that carried on it the fetid stench of rot and the distant calls of creatures I’d never heard in my life.
“Let’s go,” Roxy said and stepped through into the Savage Realm.
I followed and my boots sunk into mud and rotting vegetation.
The gateway closed behind us and I took in our immediate vicinity.
We were deep in a forest of shadowy trees.
Everything was dark and murky, except for what looked like odd-shaped sticks poking from the mud here and there.
They were the only things not in shades of gloom.
Roxy reached back and grabbed my wrist, pulling me closer.
I dipped my head.
“Watch out for the bones, they’re old and brittle,” she whispered, her lips so close they brushed my ear, and goose bumps shot up all over me. “You stand on one and you’ll give us away.”
Bones? I scanned the ground again. Fuck. Not sticks. I cursed under my breath.
We picked our way through the shadowed forest, watching our steps as we weaved around black slime-covered trees.
“You hear that? That hissing sound?” I said low, searching the ground.
Roxy pointed to a cluster of deep purple flowers. “They spit acid.”
As she said it, the petals jerked wide and spewed out something thick and gray. The ground where the substance landed sent out a trail of noxious smoke.
“Watch out for the—”
The ground vanished from beneath her feet.
Roxy gasped as she slid several feet away, then continued to sink. The mud was already at chest level.
“Fuck. Don’t move.” Struggling would only make her sink faster. Though the way she remained utterly frozen, she didn’t need me to tell her that. I grabbed for the tree closest, but my hand slipped off its slimy trunk.
“Quickly, Lothar,” she gasped out, now submerged up to her chin.
Yanking off my shirt, I wrapped it around a branch, quickly testing its strength, then wrapped the shirt around my fist and leaned out over the bog.
Roxy’s fingers brushed mine, but I couldn’t grab hold of her.
Gritting my teeth, I fucking prayed the branch would hold as I tested it to its limits and stretched out as far as I could.
She made a desperate dive for my hand, and I grabbed her, griping her tight.
She clung on, wrapping her other hand around my wrist, and with a growl, I hauled her out.
As soon as her feet hit solid ground, she bent over at the waist, sucking in desperate breaths. “Holy fuck.”
That was too fucking close. “You good?”
She nodded, but I could see that she was shaken in a way I’d never seen this female before.
She never let you see her truly vulnerable.
Yeah, until recently, she’d been sweet and bouncy and loving, but not vulnerable, never that.
Lucifer’s right hand had never shown an ounce of fear as long as I’d known her.
I grabbed her hand to pull her close, but she slid it free instantly and straightened, squaring her shoulders.
The beast snarled, roaring at me to pick her up and run, to take her to safety.
I ignored the fucker inside me, who seemed to have gone completely fucking rogue, and searched the ground.
There was deep purple and gray fungus that looked like spindly mushrooms scattered around the quagmire.
“I think if we look out for that fungus, we can avoid any more bogs like this one.”
She nodded. “I can’t believe I missed them.” Then she led the way around it, something else the beast didn’t fucking like.
A bubble rose up beside us, making a plopping sound as it burst on the surface. Then another rose up, and another.
“Lothar…”
“I see it.”
Something was coming.
A huge, misshapen form rose slowly from the mire. It was so caked in mud I didn’t know what I was looking at. Then it’s mouth opened wide, gnashing long sharp teeth.
“Run,” Roxy hissed.
Snatching up her hand, I gripped it tight, refusing to let her pull away this time, because there was no fucking way I was risking losing her in this fucking realm of rot and death, and broke into a sprint.
We rounded trees and swamps, jumped fallen logs, and slipped on rotting vegetation.
The crash and roar of the bog creature making chase echoed behind us.
It was fast and gaining, more familiar with the treacherous terrain than we were.
Another roar came from somewhere else close by. I wasn’t sure we could outrun these swamp fuckers. A huge tree was just ahead. It had thick gnarled roots thrust into the ground, and some of the earth under it had dropped away, leaving a dark, open space.
I glanced back at the mud-slicked mire monster crashing toward us.
We needed to do something. Now. I didn’t have time to tell Roxy my plan.
“Hold on to me,” I said as I hauled her off her feet, darted one way toward a thicker cluster of trees, leading the creature there and giving us cover, before I veered back and dove for the ground.
We slid in the mud and sludge, across the forest floor and between the huge tree’s roots, stopping when we hit the wall of dirt and roots underneath. Roxy smashed into my front and blinked up at me, eyes huge. She opened her mouth to speak, and I clamped my hand over it.
If the creature had eyes, I didn’t see any. It seemed to me it was using sound and probably scent, and I was banking on the mud now coving us both to disguise us.
Roxy’s stunning blue eyes stayed on me, widening even more when the heavy thud of the creature’s feet squelching in the mud grew closer. It slowed, and I could hear it scenting the air. It paced back and forth, then roared, before it took off running deeper into the forest in search of us.
We were both breathing hard now, and her soft, little body was pressed tight against mine.
I could feel every soft curve, and for once her scent wasn’t a problem, because the mud was disguising it from me.
Nothing inside me was demanding I get the fuck away from her, and for the first time since we started this hunt, my beast sunk back into me, with me again in all ways, as it should be. It was a good feeling.
Roxy’s fingers curled around my hand, her movements slow, careful, as she eased it away from her mouth.
Her lips looked darker, a little fuller, from my rough skin pressed against them.
I scented her experimentally, and my beast rumbled in my chest when I smelled my own scent now on those plump pretty lips.
I slid my hand up her back and into her hair, and the beast growled again from the softness of it.
Hounds loved certain textures, soft, silky things drew us, and we loved touch, hugs especially.
My senses were in pleasure overload, and I didn’t even try to stop myself from leaning in so I could press my nose, my lips, to her neck, so I could slide them up her silky skin, the only part of her not smeared with mud. The vibrations in my chest increased.
Roxy’s breathing quickened, her fingers against my side digging in and making me moan.
“Lothar?” she whispered. “What are you doing?”
I wasn’t sure. All I knew was I didn’t want to let her go.
I wanted to get closer, I wanted more, needed more.
Lifting my head, I took her chin in my hand and slid my thumb over the plump warmth of her tempting lower lip.
“You’re so fucking beautiful, Roxy.” I shook my head.
“Fucking gorgeous. Have I ever told you that?” I had, hadn’t I?
I couldn’t remember saying it before, but I was positive I had.
Her throat worked, and she blinked up at me. “We can’t…we shouldn’t—”
“Why shouldn’t we?” It felt right to have Roxy in my arms. The beast purred from just how right this felt. Why hadn’t I done this before?
“It’s not a good idea,” she said, her voice husky and sexy.
I pressed my forehead to hers and nodded. “Yeah, it is.”
Her breath shook. “Please.”
The plea was soft, barely there, and I wasn’t sure if she was begging me to kiss her or asking me to release her, but instinct took over and I curled my fingers around the side of her lovely face and pressed my lips to hers.
If Roxy wanted me to stop, she could easily make me.
She could gut me in three seconds flat. Another growl left me, as I opened my mouth over hers.
My tongue delved into that silken heat and took my first drugging taste of her.
Motherfucker, I knew her taste. I’d dreamed about it.
I was positive I had. Something wild ignited inside me.
Her fingers dug into my sides, hard enough that her nails would leave indents in my skin.
She stilled, and I braced for her to shove me away, but then she hooked both arms around my neck, and with her considerable strength, she pulled me closer and kissed me back.
I groaned when she slid her sweet, little tongue against mine, as if she were as desperate for a taste of me as I was her.
I shoved my hand up under her shirt, my fingers sliding across the scar on her side, then up over her ribs. Fuck me, it was like sparks arced between us wherever I touched. She gasped like she could feel it too.
Her hands slipped from around my neck and traveled lightly down my chest.
Yes. Touch me.
She shoved, hard, breaking the kiss.
I snarled, and we stared at each other, panting. I went for those lips again, fucking hungry for more, but she slapped her hand over my mouth this time and shook her head.
The rumbling in my chest intensified, a throbbing purr and low growl rolling from me. The beast wanted more, right the fuck now.
She kept her hand over my mouth and lifted her finger to her lips, telling me to be quiet. That’s when I heard the snuffling and heavy footsteps squelching through mud nearby.
We were about to be discovered.
I untangled myself from Rox, and she grabbed my arm, alarm in her eyes.
Be ready, I mouthed.
I needed to incapacitate the creature, do enough damage that we’d have time to get away.
She shook her head and held my arm in a tighter grip.
Covering her hand with mine, I shook my head and carefully pulled away, then crawled between the twisted roots. I looked back and held up two fingers, hoping she understood what I was telling her. Give me two minutes, then come.
Her chin was stubborn, and fire blazed in those pretty blue eyes.
This had to be done, so I turned away and waited.
The monster returned half a minute later, its mud-slicked body hunched over, walking on all fours now. Its eyeless head pressed to the mud and rot, using the two holes in the center of its face to search for our scent. Finally, it turned its back on me.
I didn’t hesitate, I burst from our hiding spot, shifting as I went—and attacked.